If You Ever Come Back
by lonelywinter
Summary: He left a key underneath the doormat for her [human!klaroline oneshot]


**an: human!klaroline au based off "If You Ever Come Back" by The Script**

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It was a downpour outside as well as in. Klaus sat inside of the kitchen with his whiskey clasped tightly in one hand, prepared to drown himself in the bottle if it would stop his heart from feeling so broken. If each drop of alcohol could burn away the images of her from his mind.

Her golden hair falling back against the soft skin of her shoulders as she sat in the sun. Her smile so bright it could cure cancer, watching him as he attempted to make her breakfast. Her laughter ringing in his ears whenever he'd run his hands down her sides in an attempt to hear that beautiful sound. Her arms around his gently pulling him closer, whispering promises of forever into his ear.

He wanted them all gone.

The truth was that she was nothing but a ghost in the home they had shared and he himself had become the living dead. Two days after she'd left and he'd fallen into a downward spiral that was never going up.

But it was his fault and he knew it. He'd yelled about things that didn't matter, he drank too much, he always left his socks on the floor when the hamper was so close, he never put down the toilet seat and his idea of a good date nowadays was staying at home. Klaus knew that she deserved so much better then the bullshit relationship he'd been offering her, so yes it was all his fault.

But he missed her.

She was his one and that was the worst part of it all. Together five years when he'd sworn he'd never settle down with any woman. Ever. Caroline had been the sunshine breaking through the clouds when he hits his lowest time in life. At first he'd ignored her advances in trying to make him feel better but eventually her persistence paid off and Klaus saw the light. He saw her. All of her beauty, her knowledge, her amazing personality. She was the embodiment of everything he never knew he needed.

And he'd driven her away.

A week without her and he was losing his damned mind. He left a spare key under the mat in case she came home and had forgotten her own pair, he left the hall light on because he didn't want her wondering around in the dark and every meal he'd set plates for two at the table even though only one would be used. Every night he'd turn on the kettle and pour a cup of mint green tea with lemon because he knew she needed to drink a cup before bed, but every morning when he awoke he'd find a full glass and dump it into the sink.

Parts of her were everywhere he turned. Her pink scarf she'd worn on their first date, the necklace she had won at a street fair, the plastic rose he'd hidden in a bouquet of real ones with a note saying: "I'll love you until the last one dies". His heart clenched in pain because it was true. That rose would never decay and neither would his love for the woman he treated so poorly.

She'd left in a storm of tears and anger. All of what she could fit into their medium suitcase trailed behind her as the door slammed and he hadn't done a damn thing to stop her because he thought she'd be back. Somewhere inside of him he believed she'd always come back, but it had been a week and nothing.

Not even his damn family had heard from her despite their best attempts to call.

He remembered the day that she'd finally met his family. After months of pestering from both parties who were so desperate to meet the other Klaus decided that Caroline was ready for the mess that was his family. Rebekah had disliked her at first seeing as she'd always been the special blonde girl in Klaus's life and even though Rebekah would deny it her and Caroline were very similar. Kol on the other hand had swept Caroline off her feet with his charm and humor, the two of them becoming thick as thieves before Klaus could even blink an eye. She fit into his crooked family dynamic, fitting into the spaces that the Mikaelson's hadn't known were unoccupied. Caroline managed to bring a smile to anybody she talked to and it never ceased to amaze him.

Klaus often thought about what she was doing after she'd stormed out. Was she crying? Did she miss him? Did her heart feel as smashed as his own? Each day that passed by without her he had to hit reset on his heart, sewing it back together with dull needles and thin thread that lasted mere seconds before he remembered that he slept on the right side of the bed not the left. Klaus could smell her all around the sheets, that intoxicating scent of vanilla that he'd been taking for granted.

He hated himself for becoming the person she couldn't love enough to stay with. Klaus would have rather her stay and give him the cold shoulder or even a hard time then be anywhere that wasn't in arms reach. He wanted to feel her fists pounding against his chest as she hit him for being so hurtful to her, see her rage wash over her delicate emotions before becoming soft again.

He just wanted to see his Caroline no matter what she looked like.

And all those memories he had that he cursed and wished would leave him, all of the things he wish his mind could erase. The truth was no matter how much the thought of her beat him down he wouldn't want to lose her. Even in memories. If he could just tell her how much she meant to him then everything would be fine. He was sure of it. They'd been through so much together she couldn't just walk away as if their relationship was a small moment in her life. Klaus could remember the day her dad died, holding her for months whenever she'd cry into the night. The day she found out that she couldn't have children because of a car accident she was in as a teenager. Caroline had cried every time she saw a baby for the next three months. Klaus himself had been through hell with his little brother developing cancer and Caroline had held his hand and kept him strong while Henrik grew weak. But there was also the happy memories. Falling asleep beside her in the tree house the previous house owners had built, watching the stars shine above them. Whenever they painted their room but actually ended up painting each other, which obviously led to clean up in the shower.

Could all of that really be erased in a moment?

He hated the feeling of being alone even when he once enjoyed it because he'd grown accustomed to Caroline being his better half. Joined at the hip. As the rain pelted against the windows he thought about the wreck he'd become and knew that she had not fallen into darkness but kept on climbing up, because she was Caroline and she was amazing. Klaus set down his glass, the contents long ago drained dry.

There was a rustling noise coming from the the entryway that Klaus hadn't registered until he heard the door opening. At first he thought the sound was just a trick of the mind seeing as nobody came to visit him anymore. Not even his so-called wonderfully supportive siblings. But the noises didn't stop and Klaus assumed he was either crazy or he was wrong about them being make believe. Assuming it was the latter Klaus rose to his feet which began to guide him towards the front door.

His breath caught at the sight of Caroline in the entryway soaked to her bones with rain water, her hair flat against her cheeks, her suitcase resting on the floor beside her. She held a drenched newspaper in one hand as if she'd been using that to stop the droplets from hitting her head. How utterly adorable and _Caroline_ that was to him. She was fumbling around with herself, trying to look presentable and that's when Klaus noticed the spare key he had placed under the doormat was firmly between her fingers. Her legs must have been freezing because the wind outside had been pushing harshly against the bare skin her dress left. She hardly seemed to care because her entire body tensed when she noticed him watching her in awe. He couldn't believe that he was truly seeing her again, he couldn't. Klaus must have drank himself into a hallucinogenic state.

But if it was her, he had to make sure not to lose her again. "Caroline?" His voice was so low he barely heard it himself. She had though, she always did. Caroline's smile reached her eyes as she watched him take a tentative step forward. "Are you back?"

Her head nodded up and down, face lighting up the room brilliantly as her grin overtook her features. He had been trying to reconstruct that expression in his head for the past week but nothing compared to the real thing. She looked like an angel that had come in from the cold and Klaus began thanking God for turning her away.

"I'm back." She confirmed, her own legs crossing the unused space between them.

And then they were kissing until they could no longer breathe, and their limbs were entangled so tight they were surely going to become one. It was everything he had wanted to tell her in one simple actions. In a collision of lips and bodies he knew that she understood every word he hadn't spoken yet. Klaus wasn't sure how many times saying 'I love you' was endearing before it became annoying, but he was going to spend a lifetime finding out.

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